Horse Racing: NFA grad confident on eve of Derby day

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that there are no second acts in American life. Norwich native Tom McCarthy will be out to prove him wrong Saturday.

JAMES MOSHER

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that there are no second acts in American life. Norwich native Tom McCarthy will be out to prove him wrong Saturday.

McCarthy is returning to the scene of his greatest thrill and disappointment in five decades of horse racing — Louisville, Ky.’s, Churchill Downs and its Kentucky Derby.

Last year General Quarters ran 10th in the world’s most famous race, and was slowed by a rain-soaked track. This year owner and trainer McCarthy and his 4-year-old are back for the Derby undercard, running in Saturday’s $500,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic Stakes (4:46 p.m., HRTV).

Even the weather will be similar to last year with strong rain and thunderstorms forecast for Louisville this weekend.

The 11⁄8-mile Woodford is run right before the $2 million Derby. With this year’s Derby having fewer headline-grabbing human interest stories than last, McCarthy is poised to steal the emotional thunder through a victory against thoroughbred mega-stables.

A last-minute jockey change is adding to the drama. Rafael Bejarano has been hired to ride General Quarters from post No. 2 in the nine-horse field. Bejarano, 28, a successful California-based jockey, replaces Robby Albarado. Albarado has opted for Woodford favorite Court Vision, breaking from post No. 3.

“He’s a tremendous finisher,” trainer/owner McCarthy said of Bejarano. “I was lucky to get him.”

If the turf is wet Saturday, McCarthy will instruct Bejarano to grab the lead early and hold it. This is would be a change of style for both horse and jockey.

“We may have to change strategy a bit,” McCarthy said.

Bejarano, who has never ridden General Quarters, will gallop the horse today in preparation for the Woodford.

Albarado is bidding to be the first jockey to win the Woodford four times. Bejarano has never won it.

Notable company

Julien Leparoux, who rode General Quarters in last year’s Derby and Preakness Stakes, is also in the Woodford, aboard Yate’s Black Cat at post No. 9. Leparoux got his first Woodford victory last year as Einstein won for the second straight time. Einstein is not running this year.

Calvin Borel, winner of the 2009 Derby with longshot Mine That Bird, is in the Woodford, riding Wise River from post No. 1. Borel has never won the Woodford.

Albarado was paired with General Quarters in January and ran to three straight second-place finishes, including the $300,000 New Orleans Handicap on March 27. General Quarters, who had a six-month layoff last year after surgery on his right front leg, hasn’t won since the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes on April 11, 2009.

McCarthy is hungry for a win regardless of the jockey.

“I feel really good about this race,” he said Wednesday by cell phone from Kentucky.

Breaking the mold

McCarthy is a working-class hero, with his do-it-yourself one-horse stable providing a stark contrast to the titans competing in the Run for the Roses. The 1952 Norwich Free Academy graduate is thought of as a Louisville native by many. McCarthy, 76, raised his family in Louisville and has trained at Churchill for 50 years.

A win in the 24th running of the Woodford is liable to shake Churchill’s famed Twin Spires with surging applause for the “hometown hero.” Siblings in Norwichtown, Groton and New London are among McCarthy’s Connecticut rooting section.

“He’s worked so hard and really deserves this,” said Groton Long Point resident Nancy Green, a 1955 NFA graduate and one of McCarthy’s two sisters.

McCarthy’s position in the Woodford makes him even more of an underdog. The Woodford is a grass race and General Quarters has run only one grass race in 17 career starts. That 2008 race at Churchill Downs ended with an eighth-place finish.

Good practice

Team McCarthy will have to mow down top-flight grass race competition in the grade 1 Woodford. General Quarters has won at grade 1, the highest level of competition, but that was on the synthetic Polytrack at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. The trainer/owner says successful synthetic runners often transition well to grass.

The Derby frequently crosses McCarthy’s mind, he admits. He’ll be pulling for Bejarano, who will ride Line of David in the big race for trainer John Sadler. Albarado will be piloting Dean’s Kitten while Leparoux will be aboard Awesome Act in Saturday’s 136th running of the Derby (NBC, 6:24 p.m.).

Dean’s Kitten and Court Vision have the same owner, which helps explain Albarado’s defection.

“They (Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey) have lots of horses and I only got one, so that’s how it goes,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy will also be financially connected to the Derby through a special Pick 3 wager where bettors choose the winners of the Woodford, Derby and today’s Kentucky Oaks fillies race.

General Quarters has $746,535 in career earnings having won three races, been second seven times, and third once. McCarthy bought the horse for $20,000 in 2008. His ultimate goal for the gray runner is the Breeders’ Cup races scheduled for November at Churchill Downs. Earlier this year the target was the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, America’s most lucrative dirt race, but a win in the Woodford might switch the destination to the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf.

The BC Turf would pose a challenge against an accomplished group of European grass horses, giving McCarthy another opportunity for underdog glory. By Fitzgerald’s reckoning that would be the third act.

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